


With one foot in the grave

by AsraElenavra



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ghost Hunter Lance, Ghosts, Keith can see ghosts, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, M/M, Mutual Pining, Mystery, OR IS IT, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Slow Burn, So Does Lance, Supernatural Elements, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-09 23:25:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14725595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsraElenavra/pseuds/AsraElenavra
Summary: All Keith wanted was leaving all of this behind. He just wanted his brother back and forget about any of this ever happening. He did not account for it haunting him for as long as it does.Literally.Neither did he for someone with the same kind of unique ability as him. Only that Lance McClain didn't seem as bothered by the dead all around them as he was.





	1. Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> This might seem confusing in the beginning, but I promise, I have a plan.   
> Chapters will be longer once the set up has beet... well set up.

„No, Keith, _listen_ …“ Pidge let out an exasperated sigh and pushed her fingers through her already messy hair. “I swear, I have _proof_ this time!” She punched the scattered documents on the table in between them repeatedly with her finger, as if she wanted to stab them. Her glasseswere slightly askew and her cheeks flushed red from working herself up out of frustration.

“Pidge… I believe in a lot of things…” Keith crossed his arms with slightly furrowed brows. “But this isn’t like Mothman or Bigfoot or Aliens with concrete scientific evidence.” His eyes shifted to the man standing behind her, the old neon lights in the dingy Diner flickering softly for just a moment before he looked back at her disbelieving face.

“Are you _kidding_ me? You are willing to believe in all sorts of cryptids and aliens and god knows what but _that’s_ where you draw the line?” She slammed her hand on the table again and grabbed some by now cold fries to stuff her face with before continuing. “Keith, this is hard evidence!”

“I wouldn’t really call a few blurry pictures you took inside the old windmill “hard evidence”. It’s hardly even a real picture.” He could feel an almost painful stab of guilt in his gut but he has sworn that he would do everything he could to keep her safe and out of this. He owed Matt at least that.

Pidge looked almost desperate, not noticing the guy behind them shift closer. Keith shot him a tiny glare but it went unnoticed by both of them and a shiver went down his spine, eyes falling back down to the table and the so called “proof”. He picked one up and couldn’t help himself as he cringed a bit, the corners of his mouth turning downwards.

He _really_ didn’t like what he was looking at.

Pidge snatched it back with a huff, flicking it.

“Just…. Look at this! You can clearly make out something on it! Right there…” she stabbed at it again. “Right on the stairs to the upper levels! It looks like a girl… or… or at least something like it” She visibly halted before she recollected and shuffled through the various documents strewn across. She snatched it and almost slammed it down in front of Keith, now leaning over the table.

The waitress didn’t seem pleased with the ruckus they were causing at one 1am in an almost empty beat down hole-in-a-wall diner.  Nor did the creepy man behind Pidge; now closer than ever. Just looking at him made Keith’s stomach churn.

Pidge clicked her fingers in front of his face to redirect his attention back to her, a deep frown etched into her face.

“Can you at least look at me, if you’re not gonna be helpful in any way?” she hissed agitated.  

“Sorry, just…” the raven haired mumbled, shaking his head. “got distracted”

Pidge huffed and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been getting distracted an awful lot ever since…”

“ _Don’t_.” he said softly, but with an edge, looking at her through his unruly hair. There was no room for pressing further in his tone and she flinched, almost taken aback.

“Keith…”

“I said _don’t_!”

The tiny readhead bit her lip but seemed to come to the conclusion that dropping the subject would be the best for now. She’s always been too smart for her own good.

“I know you miss them too, Keith…” Her voice was so small. “Can you _please_ just listen to me? For one minute?”

“Pidge… I want to find our brothers just as badly as you but this…” It almost physically hurt him to see her like that.

Desperate. Frenzy. Tired.

“Keith…. _Please_.” They locked eyes for a moment and Keith could feel his resolve crack. He was never good at denying her something. He sighed deeply, a purely tired sound.

“Fine… Tell me what you found…” It was almost worth seeing the glimmer of hope and gratitude in her tired eyes. She mouthed a small “thank you”, before she grabbed the papers from earlier again.

“Look, I know it’s a stretch but I did some research and there were reports from the late 19 hundreds that talked of a girl that worked at the old windmill as a maiden, which disappeared. Just vanished one day. It was rumoured that she ran away with a boy because he got her pregnant out of wedlock, so they never looked into it. Her family didn’t either, so she was just another runaway girl. But now look at this.” She slid another picture across the table, obviously a hastily taken picture of an old photography she had printed out. “That’s her. The girl.” Keith eyes automatically shifted back to the picture Pidge had shown him earlier, the one she took at the windmill. The two girls looked almost identical. “The silhouette looks almost the same, height, form, everything. Even the hairstyle. I know you can’t make out any details but…”

“Wait…” Keith stopped her, pure and honest confusion written all over his face. “What do you mean, the silhouette?”  

“Are you kidding me?” She grunted and started waving the picture of the windmill, in the air. She almost hit the guy behind her in the face with him standing so close. He didn’t even seem fazed by it though, just kept his unwavering stare on Keith, never blinking and gently dripping on the floor. “Open your goddamn eyes, Kogane! The shadowy figure _right here_!”  

He could understand where her frustration was coming from, considering that he was making this really hard for her. He didn’t mean to, really. It just… He couldn’t let her get hurt. Not again. Not another one.

“Keith, please. Just listen to me! This might prove my theory right! This might prove that what we saw wasn’t just a stress induced hallucination like everyone keeps telling me, I know what I saw _, I know what I saw taking my brother and I know what I saw when it took yours too_! “ Her voice was so desperate and he could see the tears welling up in her eyes. “Keith, I am going to get them back. But I can’t do it alone. I _need_ your help. You are all I have left”

He almost cracked.

Keith was on the verge of opening his mouth and spilling all of his secrets to her when he heard the rattling intake of air mingled with the constant dripping sound and the smell of wet clothes.

The raven haired sighed and closed his eyes for a second, ignoring the pain in his chest and head.

“Pidge… I love you like a sister and… I want them back too. But…” He could already see the pain of the rejection in her face as she stared at him.

He couldn’t look at her so he kept his eyes on the floor as he slid out of the booth, shoulders hunched. Keith grabbed a few crumpled up dollars from his pocket and put them on the table to cover for both of them.

“Pidge, Ghosts aren’t real. I’m sorry.” He turned to walk out into the dry and warm summer night; all while he could feel the stare of the man glued to him.

Well, as good as someone without the top half of his head could stare.

He felt like throwing up.


	2. Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When will my son return from war?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of past abusive relationship

Keith didn’t like rules.

Everyone knew that much about him. Even if there was absolutely nothing else, everybody knew that he hated rules. He didn’t stick to them, a lot of them didn’t make sense to him, they were making his life more difficult than they needed to and more often than not they were just a nonsensical inconvenience. So no, Keith didn’t like rules.

He broke them at every possible occasion. It wasn’t like he was actively seeking out trouble or any regulations to break it just kept _happening_. How the Garrison University hadn’t kicked him out and up to Mars was a mystery to him but he wouldn’t complain about it.

So yeah, Keith broke a lot of rules. However, he would _never_ dare to even think about breaking those that were self-imposed. Those were _sacred_ to him. He’d rather chop off his entire left leg and eat it saw than contravene them.

_“Don’t talk about the things happening around him”_ and “ _Never fall for a straight guy”_ were absolutely on the top of that list.

Little did he know that meeting Lance McClain would lead to him breaking both of them. 

 

Pidge groaned, sinking deeper into the sofa crease that has probably already assumed the exact shape of her butt at this point. She shoved the laptop off of her lap and onto the cushions with a frustrated groan while simultaneously almost flinging her glasses off her face and rubbing her eyes tiredly. Keith didn’t even have to look at her to know exactly what kind of face she was pulling. After a while of living together, you get attuned to small things like that.

“Crappy teammates or shitty programming?” he asked absentmindedly while he continued to scribble barely relevant notes for class onto a notepad.

“Neither.” She grunted with obvious displeasure. “Apparently Luxia thought it would be fun to post a new assignment at fucking one am where absolutely no one will see it and expects it to be handed in by Friday.” Keith furrowed his brows.

“But… It’s Wednesday? Don’t you need like at least a week to get something done on _anything_ Luxia assigns?”

“Exactly!” she shrieked, like the little Gremlin she was. “Why the fuck did I chose her godforsaken course?”

“You decided that double majoring would be easy, don’t look at me.”

“I swear to god, I will give her the best fucking rating out of all teachers!” she hissed and only now Keith turned and gave her a questioning eyebrow.

“If I have to suffer, so does everybody else. And people usually chose courses with really good ratings, duh?” She rolled her eyes.

“Goddamn Satan Spawn” he muttered before he focused back on the notes for his report for Thace’s class.

“You know, I should be out there, enjoying college life, be young, wild and free and _not_ slave away for some engineering courses I don’t even wanna do.”

“Young, wild and free? You?” Keith rolled his eyes but Pidge just tsked him.

“Keith, Keith Keith… You should let me finish. What I wanted to say, was that I could be out in the wild. Looking for aliens or Cryptids or Ghosts… Maybe I’ll find something this time…”

The slight melancholic edge to her voice as she trailed off gave Keith a slight twang of pain but he squashed that feeling down as quickly as it came. It’s been two weeks since the Diner and lucky for him, Pidge didn’t seem to show any signs of grudge held against him-at least that’s what he thought-but he still felt guilty.

“Oooooor you are gonna stay inside and play Fortnite and complain about your asshole teammates, that won’t treat you properly because “Hey, there’s a girl on Teamspeak, bet she’s hot” all night and _then_ bitch about it for the next 7 hours…” he teased with the slightest curl around his lips. “You know, like _every_ night?”

Pidge just snorted and threw a balled up paper towel at him.

“You’re an ass, Kogane.”

“Yeah yeah” He put his hands on his knees and slowly peeled himself from the beanbag he was lounging in as he got up, stretching and hearing his joints pop with some weird kind of satisfaction.

“That’s _so_ gross, why do you have to do that _every_ time!”

He just shrugged and let his head and shoulders roll.

“I’m heading over to the store and grab some energy drinks to power through the next few nights and finish everything. Do you need anything?” he offered and Pidge blinked up at him owlishly.

“A bullet through the head?”

“Uh, yeah, I have like 7 bucks on me right now?”

“Instant coffee is also accepted.” He simply gave her a court nod, before he grabbed his jacket and wallet and heading out, hands buried in his pockets. He kept his eyes low and peeled on the ground, trying to shake the uneasiness that usually befell him when he stepped outside. On days like these, he really hated his situation more than normally.

Hint: He didn’t like it on normal days either.

Some days were just harder than others. He really wished Shiro was here, he would have known how to do this, how to deal with this. Well, not just this but the whole situation. Keith sucked at human emotions so every time Pidge started to express her discontent about what happened or brought up the subject, he just freaked. It wasn’t even subtle.

And lord have mercy on his should should anyone ever start crying and expect him to actually help.

He’d probably just make it worse.

But not Shiro. Shiro always had a knack for making others feel great about themselves and helping them. People could always rely on him. _Keith_ could always rely on him.

But not anymore.

Because his brother was gone. And so was Pidge’s and god knows who else had been taken and he could do absolutely nothing against it. If he would tell anyone, he was sure that they would suddenly been gone as well. Either that or they would instantly rule him as clinically insane and call the guys with the love-me-jackets. He could really go without being called weird and deranged again.

The 7/11 was eerily empty as Keith stepped into it, still lost in thought. There were like 3 other guys and the cashier, that looked more dead inside than not.

Keith walked along the aisles, grabbing his and Pidge’s stuff after a bit of shuffling around to balance everything in his arms. There was only one person in front of him at the check register, lucky enough. The tore made his skin itch and insides burn, he just wanted to get _out_ and fill his lungs with air again, as he currently struggled with it. The guy in front of him idly chatted with the cashier while paying for his drinks, the sleeves of his blue and white baseball tee rolled up over his elbows and an olive green vintage jacket tied around his waist. Somehow, he seemed familiar, but Keith couldn’t recall. And honestly, he didn’t really care.

He couldn’t look at him for more than a moment though, as it seemed, that there was someone plastered to his side. It was a girl, around their age and she looked.. Surprisingly normal. If it weren’t for the occasional flicker, she could have easily mistaken for a real person. She stared at Keith for a moment, head cocked in interest and he quickly shifted his gaze back to the floor, so he didn’t notice her laying her head on the guys shoulder and mouthing something.

Once he had paid and was about to leave, the guy in front of him gave him a quick one-over with a raised eyebrow. It happened so quickly, that it would easily be missed if you didn’t pay attention.

Lucky for Keith, he was too focused on not throwing up, breathing and looking for some bills in his wallet to pay.

“You look like shit, Kogane…” the cashier said with a gravelly voice and Keith jolted, almost dropping his wallet.

“Shit.” He hissed, before focusing back on the clerk, barely suppressing a groan. “Thanks Rollo, I know.” His voice was as deadpan as possible and he had to bite back a snarky comment, not in the mood to start a fight with the dude from his aviation classes again.

“Lemme guess… Luxias classes?”

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “Thace. But my roommate is suffering through it, so I still get to experience it first-hand.”

“Shit man. Tell ‘em I feel ‘em. Still have to finish the essay for tomorrows classes.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.” Keith shook his head and finally handed him the money, balling his hand into a fist and rubbing his knuckles with his thumb to calm himself down. He still felt like puking and breathing was getting harder. God, he would feel so dead by tomorrow morning.

Rollo finally finished ringing him up and handed him the change.

“Oh yeah, by the way, Luxia posted a new project due by Friday. Just a warning, because Pidge was freaking out about it earlier.” he mumbled while shoving the coins into his back pocket, not bothering with his wallet.

“Are you kidding me” Rollo groaned and hid his face. Keith just pulled what he hoped looked like a sympathetic face and turned to leave.

Weirdly, his movements felt slow and sluggish, as if something inside of him fought against leaving the store, but he fought it, like usually. As soon as he stepped outside into the fresh air, he knew why.

“For the last time, no. Now fuck off already, okay?” Keith immediately recognised the voice as the guy from the store in front of him, only slightly frustrated now.

“Come on, Lance, don’t be an ass.” Someone else huffed.

“I’m not being an ass, Theresa, it’s called a sense of self preservation. Now please, leave me _alone_ and _stalk_ someone _else_!”

“I’m _not stalking_ you, Lance, I am just…. Very informed about your life! It’s what happens when you love someone!”

 The guy-Lance-snorted at the love sick tone and replied in a dry voice. “Yeah, uh, because that doesn’t sound _any_ less creepy?”

Keith wanted to move, really. The fight between the two didn’t concern him at all. But something in Lance’s voice made him hesitate, almost stuck in place. And those were some pretty serious accusations thrown into the room.

“It’s not creepy! God, you are such a child sometimes! Can we _please_ just leave this behind us now and go home? Or at least make up? I miss you, Lance”

“Are you for real?”

“Yeah. I-I don’t even care that you are sleeping around, we can make it work again.” Keith furrowed his brows and finally decided to stop eavesdropping. But instead of leaving, he marched towards and around the corner, ready to intervene, should this escalate. Just as he rounded the building, towards the parking lot, where most of the screaming was coming from, he heard the guy laughing.

“Oh no, you do not try to guilt trip me with rumours you spread and manipulate me again. I swear to god, just walk away-“

“Are you ready to spend the rest of your life alone? Because I promise you, you won’t find anyone ever again!”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I am _telling_ you! Who’d understand and stay with you except _me_?” Keith’s eyes fell on the girls face, twisted in a disbelieving snarl. She might have been perceived as pretty if it weren’t for the obvious crazy eyes.

“Hey, are you two alright?” he spoke up, the two people turning to face him. The girl seemed wary of the interruption but Lance on the other hand wore an expression of pure relief.

“Hey man, you came just at the right moment. We can head out any second now.” He breathed out and Keith gave him a court nod.

“Yeah, uh… sure” he mumbled, staring at what’s-her-face with a frown. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around his shoulders and he jolted. 

“I guess we are done here, so-“

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Theresa suddenly screeched and both Keith and Lance flinched. “Is this why you wanna break up with me, Lance? Because of… of… _that_?” Wow, Keith instantly hated her with every fibre of his being.

“Theresa, we haven’t been together for two years and you tried to destroy my life on multiple occasions, _can you just get off my ass now_?” 

“You-You ungrateful little-“ Keith interrupted her by wrapping an arm around Lance’s middle and raising an eyebrow.

“You really don’t get the hint, do you?” They both stared at him in shock but Lance melted into the touch almost instantly, leaning against him. Surprisingly, the touch didn’t make him wanna spill the contents of his stomach on the pavement. Not that he would mind throwing up on Crazy Eyes right now.

“Theresa, it’s over. _Basta_. Just…leave. I promise I won’t call the cops on you again, just…. Go. “ Lance shook his head, voice calm and smiled at Keith. “Let’s go home now, yeah babe?” Keith just nodded and started to turn away, as stars exploded behind his eyes and his head was ringing.

_“He’s mine, you whore!”_

Did he really just get knocked out by a 5”3 psycho bitch behind a 7/11 calling him a whore? He regretted leaving the house.

 

Once he could feel his body again, he regretted that too. Everything hurt and he tried to sit up with a pained groan.

“-asy there, buddy!” a warm and concerned voice forced its way through the hazy. It seemed oddly familiar but he couldn’t quite place it. He slowly blinked into consciousness again, instantly staring up into the bluest eyes he’s ever seen in his life. They reminded him of the deepest parts of the ocean, the obvious concern in them only slightly muddling the intensive colour.

“Wow…” he whispered, barely audible.

“She got you pretty bad, take it slow. You were out for a hot second…” What? Keith didn’t know what Blue Eyes was talking about but by god, was he gorgeous. His brown hair was tousled and his bronze skin seemed to almost glow, despite the dim light of the parking lot. Keith wondered if he did something, no way on earth was his skin this naturally flawless and soft looking. He must have.

_Parking lot…. Getting knocked out…_

Keith surged up the rest of the way, his hands surging up to grab Lances face but managed to halt himself half way and settled for grabbing his shoulders.

“Shit, did she hurt you?  Where is she? I’m gonna kill that bitch!”

“Easy there, hot shot!” Lance chuckled. “She ran away as soon as she realised that you were going down. I’m fine, just worried about you!”

“I’m… okay. Just a slight headache.” He could feel Lance grab his face carefully and his cheeks heating up under the intense stare.

“Hmmh, I’m sorry, I’m afraid it’s gonna bruise. But I don’t think you have a concussion if you aren’t feeling nauseous or dizzy. You gotta take it slow for a few days though.” He sighed. “At least it’ll go along with your bad boy emo vibe.” The brunette could only muster a small smile before letting go and staring back to the ground, clearing his voice. “I am-You shouldn’t… Thanks… For… checking up on me, Keith. You didn’t have to do that. You got yourself in trouble and hurt and… I’m sorry.” Keith started shaking his head.

“Don’t worry man. I kinda felt like I had to? I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but it sounded pretty serious with all the talk about stalking and-“he suddenly furrowed his brows. “How do you know my name?”

It was Lance’s time to seem confused now.

“Uhm…. From class?”

“Class?”

“We-We have four courses together, are you serious?” Lance threw his hands up with an exasperated noise.

“We do?”

“ _Yes we do_!” he screeched, before halting. “Wait, If you didn’t know that… then where did you get _my_ name from?”

“Wasn’t able to overhear it with what’s-her-face screeching it like a lost Nazghul every five seconds.” He deadpanned which made Lance chuckle.

“Yeah… Theresa has that ability.”

“Who was she anyways?” The brunette rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“She’s… a mistake. An old ex. Lotsa bad blood. It’s a long story.”

Keith’s stomach instantly dropped. Of course. Pretty Face was straight. Awesome. The Gorgeous ones are always either in a relationship, crazy or straight. Just Keith’s luck.

“I-uh… Could see that…” He mumbled, raking his fingers through his hair.

“Sorry about that… Uhm… Lemme make it up to you?” Lance said, almost sheepishly and Keith frowned, not looking up.

“What?”

“You uhm… really helped me out. I’m not good at… dealing with her. And I feel _really_ bad about you getting hurt. So lemme make it up to you.” Dark Violet eyes shifted to meet Navy ones. “I’ll err… buy you coffee? Or pizza?” Keith could feel himself blush just the tiniest bit and prayed that it wouldn’t be visible in the darkness.

“I-uh… you don’t have to?” Lance offered him a blinding smile that he couldn’t resist and made his insides churn.

_Oh no._

“I want to” He couldn’t deny this man anything so he just found himself nodding dumbly. “Awesome!” Lance’s smile gained in brightness.

Keith could hear a small chuckle that made his insides burn again, this time way less pleasant though and he couldn’t stop himself from turning his head to stare directly into the eyes of the woman attached to Lance’s side, her head rested comfortably against the back of his shoulder, a few strands of chocolate hair spilling over to his front and a knowing smile on her pale lips as she stared directly into Keith’s eyes.

He couldn’t help himself but jolt, never making eye contact with one of them before but feeling unable to look away now. The pounding in his head increased by tenfold and he balled his hands to fists.

Only when Lance shrugged his shoulder in a very deliberate manner, a tutting noise leaving his lips, Keith found himself able to tear his eyes away from her.

_Shit_.

Shit Shit Shit.

“ _Ay, lo estás asustando, parar_.” Lance murmured with a frown before giving Keith a court smile. “Sorry, don’t pay attention to her. She’s a nosey little bastard.”

“Wha-?” the raven stammered, blinking multiple times and Lance gave him another blinding smile.

“You can see her, right? Just ignore her if she bothers you, it’s what I do.” The girl pouted and Keith started shaking his head, stomach turning again and his world being flipped upside down all of a sudden.

“Wha-? Who-?”

“Her name is Reyna. I just call her Ree.” Lance answered, his smile turning soft and almost fond.

Keith felt like-“I gotta throw up.”

So he did just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance! My boi! 
> 
> Always remember that abuse can come from both parties in a relationship, no matter if it's coming from a boy or girl. 
> 
> Spanish translations:   
> Ay, lo estás asustando, parar: Hey, you are scaring him, stop that.

**Author's Note:**

> But when will we meet Lance?


End file.
